Posts Tagged ‘rock and roll’
Motorhead – Concert Review 092009
Motorhead! I’m always excited when they come to town. Last night was my 6th time seeing them since 1993. They 
never let me down with the live show.
Until last night.
So let’s backtrack and put some story along with this. If you don’t know this already, I have the Another Perfect Day album cover tattooed on my back…my whole back. 88 hours worth of tattoo work. No regrets! I’ve met Lemmy a few times but not since getting my backpiece done. I was hoping last night would be the night. Just wanted a picture of him with my tattoo. Didn’t happen. No big deal, I can live with that. Like I said, met him a few times and always a good experience.
So my guitar player, Doug Morrison, (Turbin, Waysted) and the drummer of Reverend Horton Heat have been close friends since the late 70s and with the Rev on this tour, we got the hookup. Doug and I get there early and have dinner with Paul Simmons (drummer for the Rev) and some of the roadcrew guys from Rev Heat and Motorhead. The guy sitting next to me was pretty special though. It was Hobbs! Hobbs has been with the band for almost 30 years and is mentioned in the song Going to Brazil. I think he may even be the one who screams on We Are The Roadcrew from No Sleep Till Hammersmith. Not important. Hobbs! Talk about a weathered old British soul. He was extremely polite in a typical British sort of way yet as foul mouthed as an old Greek sea captain. He was awesome! Hobbs!
After dinner we headed backstage. Nashville Pussy was setting up their gear and there it was…Lemmy’s bass rack. From a distance I snap a picture and Paul says, “Come on, man. Step over here and get a real look at them.” His beautiful Rickenbacker 4004LK and one of his old Rics with the original hand-carved oak leaves. I got to hold history in my hands! And I couldn’t believe how high the action was on those. Seemingly about 3/8″ off of the fretboard.
So after hyperventilating over that a bit, we all just hung out backstage while Nashville Pussy played. I’ve never been a fan so I had no interest in seeing them. Paul was telling the Motorhead roadcrew guys about my backpiece and they flipped out over it. “Lemmy needs to see this!” Yes sir, I agree!
NP finishes their set and Paul had to get prepared for the Reverend Horton Heat set. Doug and I stayed backstage a little longer. Matt Sorum, (GnR, The Cult, Velvet Revolver) came in and said hi. I mentioned that I had just seen his episode of the Dog Whisperer. “Did Ace and I look like total idiots?” No man, you guys were fine, no worries. Apparently he hadn’t seen it yet. The dude is a class act even if I never cared for his other bands.
So after that, Doug and I just went out in to the crowd to watch the Rev’s set. As always, they were tight. The Rev works the crowd very well. I opened for them back in like 93 or 94 and he’s still the same old cool laid back guy.
The gig was at Stubb’s in Austin, TX. It’s an amphitheater type set up. I’ve never really cared for it all that much. Too narrow and when it gets packed it’s difficult to get around. So we hung out towards the back. Run into several friends, of course. Ran into my other guitarist, Jason McMaster (Broken Teeth, Watchtower, Dangerous Toys) and he says, “Hey man! You need to meet an old friend of mine, Craig Behrhorst.” I said, “From Ruffians?” Craig said, “How did you know that?” Sir, I am an 80s metal nerd. Plain and simple. Turned out that Doug knew him as well. I guess Craig’s sister used to hang out with Doug and his friends back in the old Sunset Strip days. I also ran into Art Villareal and Bob Catlin, both of SA SLayer/Juggernaut fame. They are both in Martyhead, a Motorhead tribute from San Antonio. Of course I have a Motorhead tribute here in town called Capricorn USA. That’s the band with Doug and Jason.
Whatever, you don’t care. You want to know about the Motorhead show!
Light’s go down and they open with Iron Fist. Sweet! I love that song. But I swear it sounded a little slower than album speed. Stay Clean was next. Same thing. The band was tight. Sorum held his own pretty well for the whole night but they really seemed lifeless to me. Everything seemed slow. To be honest I was bored until mid-set when they played a few tracks from Another Perfect Day. Matt’s drumming on everything was pretty good. Who knew the guy could play double bass? But then, they played Ace of Spades. Of course everyone knows that songs and the drunks in the crowd and the kids who only know it from Guitar Hero were freaking out. Matt’s drumming killed it. His bass drum pattern was all wrong. It put the song in a weird dynamic. I recently saw a vid from one of the shows a few weeks ago with him and it was the same thing. I hate to say it (again), but I was so bored for most of their show. They were missing a key element to their modern sound…MIKKEY DEE.
Mikkey’s a phenomenal drummer. I’ve known it since I first heard King Diamond’s Abigail and got to experience his playing live on the Them tour. Mikkey was the main reason why I ever went to see Motorhead the very first time in 1993. I wasn’t into them at all at that point and oddly enough I don’t like but a handful of songs from his era. But the live show with him is intense. If you’ve seen him play, you get it. He’s a monster. And with Motorhead, he certainly tightened them up. They were always fast, vicious. “We may not be the best band in the world, but we’re certainly the fastest” Lemmy said years and years ago on their famous No Sleep TIll Hammersmith album.
Last night they weren’t fast. There was just no electricity. Sometimes I think I am just getting old and crotchety. I do tend to get hyper-critical when it comes to live shows, but I’ve always been that way. I can never just sit back and enjoy it, I always have to dissect it. Oh well. My problem, not yours, eh?
The setlist was pretty good overall, it was just the feel and the pace of the songs that got to me. Most people I know loved it and I am glad they had a good time. I did too, actually. I got to see some people I hadn’t seen in a while and got to meet a few new folks.
Setlist:
Iron Fist
Stay Clean
Be My Baby
Rock Out
Metropolis
Over the Top
One Night Stand
I Got Mine
The Thousand Names of God
Another Perfect Day
In the Name of Tragedy
Just ‘Cos You Got the Power
Going to Brazil
Killed by Death
Bomber
Whorehouse Blues
Ace of Spades
Overkill
Sure Lem’s in his 60s now and not everyone can do it like they used to. No matter the performance from last night, I’ll always go see them. It’s Motorhead!
He said something last night that I heard him say the previous 2 times I saw them, “Don’t forget us.”
That line saddens me.
After all, who ever could?
Too Much Blood…alright!
My fondness for the Rolling Stones has never been much of a secret and I have always chosen them over the Beatles (blech!). They are my #2 band of all time right behind Iron Maiden. My earliest memories of hearing them are through one of my older brothers. I can remember him spinning Sticky Fingers and Some Girls on the record player. I was pretty much a fan from day 1. Maybe 1977 or 1978? Doesn’t matter. I was pretty young.
Undercover (1983) was the first one of theirs that I owned on my own. I remember buying it at Murphy’s on vinyl after hearing Undercover of the Night and She Was Hot on the radio. It was a bit of a different album for them, yet it still retained the feel of a real Stones album, unlike Dirty Work (terrible).
This album gets dissed by a lot of hardcore Stones fans, probably because of their MTV sirplay. No me importa. I love it. Even though I wouldn’t consider it their best album, it’s my #1. Songs like Too Much Blood, Pretty Beat Up, Undercover of the Night…great songs.
I love Mick’s ‘rap’ in Too Much Blood: “Did you ever see the Texas Chainsaw Massacre? Horrible, wasn’t it. You know, people ask me “is it really true where you live in Texas, is that really true what they do around there, people?” I say, “yea, every time I drive through the crossroads I get scared, there’s a bloke running round with a fucking chain saw. Oh! Oh! oh No, he’s gonna cut off, Oh no. Don’t saw off me leg, don’t saw off me arm.”
Good times.
Odd to think that this video was banned from MTV for a long time.
Who’s behind the Door?
I’ve always loved Zebra and considered them a severely underrated rock band. I first heard them on the radio when I first heard Who’s Behind the Door on Norfolk’s K-94 in 1983. I was instantly hooked
That debut album is pretty righteous from beginning to end. Randy Jackson has a great vocal range and is a solid guitar player. The album flows very well.
A year later they release No Tellin’ Lies which was not quite as strong of a release. They had some minor success with the slightlygoofy song Bears (worst video ever?). Sure, I like the song but it was a bit silly.
For me they struck gold again with their third album 3.V in 1986. I bought the cassette at Roses department store for $6.99 and was immediately hooked. It’s a very polished album and pretty radio friendly, but the hooks are there.
Zebra IV came out in 2003 and again they released another quality album. Highly recommended if you’re even mildly a fan.
I was fortunate enough to see the 3.V tour in 1986. I’ll never forget it. Cold rainy night…torrential rain even…A former friend from high school didn’t want to go out in the rain and get his hair messed up(just kidding) so i went alone. I already had really bad hair back then so it was no big deal to me. Plus it was $5! FIVE BUCKS! (Ren and Stimpy reference). The lineup Alcatrazz (post-Yngwie/Vai era), Rough Cutt (Duke Fame!) and Zebra headlining. I think there may have been 100 people there if that. It was at the Boathouse in Norfolk, VA which held about 2000 I think. For some shows there they put the barricade up so only prople in the beer garden could stand in the area in front of the stage. This was one of those shows. So there I was wedged up in the front stage right corner between the speaker mains, the stage and the beer garden barricade. My buddy Kirshon was standing behind me and was the only other person there that I knew.
Alcatrazz came on and was quite possibly the most boring band I have ever seen. i swear I fell asleep standing up during their performance. Some squid woke me up. Then comes Rough Cutt supporting their Wants You! album. I had that cassette and their debut and liked them a lot so I was familiar with their material. They kicked ass. Royally. Amir Derakh was great. He’s a killer guitarist, plain and simple. They rocked from beginning to end and got a great response from a crowd that had no idea who they were. Then comes Zebra. Perfectly refined, in time, in tune. They played a seemingly flawless set and mixed up the harder stuff with some acoustic songs. Unfortunately they played a Zeppelin song or 2 but I suffered through it. It was a great show.
Years later (1996 I believe) by wife at the time and I went to the va Beach Amphitheatre to see the Virginia Symphony tribute to Led Zeppelin. Yes, I don’t like Zeppelin but Randy Jackson was fronting the band so I had to go. We got 4th row center and got there pretty early. of course I brought all of my Zebra CDs and Randy’s solo album CD. Before the show started, I saw a woman walking around on the stage and she obviously was someone “in charge”. So I left my seat and walked up to the stage and asked her if there was a way for me to meet Randy before or after the show. She looked at me for a second and just said, “Wait here.” Ten minutes later she came back out and said to come to the back stage gate after the show and Randy would come out. Eureka! During the show, Randy did a fine Robert Plan imitation. It was a fun show, Zep fan or not.
So afterwards my wife and I are waiting for about 20 minutes by the backstage gate and out comes Randy, freshly showered. I shook his hand, introduced my wife and me and talked with him for about a half hour. It was an afternoon show so no one seemed rushed to get out of there. I told him that I saw the 3.V tour and he said he remembered that particular show because of the rain and poor crowd attendance. he signed all my stuff and was very appreciative of my “fanboyness”. haha. He stated that I was the first person out of the 20 or so shows to recognize him and/or bring stuff to get signed. He was super cool.
In 2000 my former guitarist and I went up to Jaxx in Springfield, VA to see them. Moderate turnout and a great show. I got to meet Felix and Guy before the show and got permission to film it. The picture came out great. Unfortunately, something screwed up on the camera and no sound was recorded. I was pissed. I got to meet randy again afterwards and reminded him about the symphony gig from a few years prior. He remembered talking to us and asked where my “pretty little wife” was. I just said, “Ancient history, man.” It was cool seeing him and the band again. I hope to catch them again sometime. On the way home (3 hour drive), Reggie fell asleep…and so did I. He just happened to wake up right before me and yell. I woke up just in time to steer away from hitting the entrance wall to the Monitor-Merrimac Tunnel. Scary shit!
It’s unfortunate that they won’t allow their studio vids on YouTube.
The Metal Files 
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